Health officials have added 45 infants to the list of more than 700 who were exposed to tuberculosis at a hospital in El Paso , Texas .

Earlier this week , the city 's Department of Public Health announced that 706 infants and 43 health care workers had been exposed to tuberculosis , commonly called TB , at Providence Memorial Hospital .

An employee at the hospital came to work with an active case of TB some time between September 2013 and August 2014 . He or she worked with infants in the nursery and in the post-partum unit at the hospital , the health department said .

These 45 additional cases were exposed during the same time period , and are being notified along with the rest of the group .

The family of each patient was sent a certified letter and is being contacted via telephone with instructions on how to get tested for TB . Any necessary follow-up care will be provided free of charge by the health department and the hospital .

As of Monday , more than 350 appointments had been made for screenings , according to the health department . Parents and other family members of the infants are not being told to get tested because they `` are not considered exposed , '' health officials said in a statement . There is no word yet on whether any of the people exposed have tested positive for the disease .

The infected health care worker is no longer working and is receiving treatment , the owner of the hospital , Sierra Providence Health Network , said in a statement .

Tuberculosis is an infectious disease that generally causes coughing , chest pain and difficulty breathing , according to the Mayo Clinic . An estimated 2 billion people worldwide have what 's called latent TB , where the bacteria remain dormant and do n't cause symptoms .

`` Once in the body , the bacteria usually lay dormant for months or years before they begin to grow and cause a case of active TB , '' the El Paso Department of Public Health said in a statement . `` That is why it is so important to identify people who may have been exposed , screen them , and provide treatment . ''

The bacteria that cause TB spread through the air when an infected patient coughs or sneezes , but it 's not a highly contagious disease ; close contact over a longer period of time is required before another person becomes infected , according to the Mayo Clinic . Only active TB can be spread .

The Texas Department of State Health Services conducted an on-site investigation at Providence Memorial Hospital last week and cited the hospital `` for deficiencies that represent immediate jeopardy to patient health and safety , '' said Carrie Williams , the department 's director of media relations . Investigators `` found serious deficiencies in the areas of infection control , patient rights and governing body . ''

The Center for Medicare Services has placed the hospital on a termination track , said David Wright , deputy regional administrator for CMS in Dallas . He said CMS is giving the hospital until October 11 to identify policy changes that need to happen to ensure something like this wo n't happen again . If the hospital fails to do so , its Medicaid and Medicare funding will be cut off .

`` This is one of the largest TB exposure investigations we 've ever been involved in , and it involves infants , so it is particularly sensitive , '' Williams said . `` Babies are more likely than older children and adults to develop life-threatening forms of TB . ''

Patients with TB must take antibiotics for six to nine months . Some strains of TB are resistant to antibiotics , which makes them more dangerous . Without treatment , TB can be fatal , the Mayo Clinic says .

There is one vaccine for TB -- Bacille Calmette-Guerin , known as BCG -- that is not widely used in the United States , according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ; it is given more often to children in countries where TB is common .

There were 9,582 recorded cases of TB in the United States last year . In October , health officials identified 140 infants who may have been exposed to tuberculosis in a similar incident at a hospital in Nevada .

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751 infants and 43 health care workers have been exposed to TB

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Hospital worker in El Paso , Texas , came to work with active case of TB

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TB is an infectious disease , but not highly contagious